The Nintendo GameCube was initially released in Japan and North America in 2001, and Europe in 2002. It is a sixth-generation video games console, with a 32-bit IBM PowerPC CPU and an ATI “Flipper” GPU.

The GameCube was praised for its controller and high-quality game library, but criticised for its lack of multimedia features, and lack of third-party support compared to its competitors (PlayStation 2 and XBox).

The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to use optical discs, rather than ROM cartridges, and games came on miniature DVDs that could hold up to 1.5GB of data. Enough for most games, although some had to be spread over multiple discs. The GameCube was focussed solely on gaming and did not play music CDs or multimedia DVDs, like its competitors did. At least not without some hacking…

As the name suggests, the GameCube was a small cube-shaped device, with a carry handle on the back, and the optical disc tray opening at the top. It had four controller ports at the front, and two ports for memory cards, to which game data could be saved.

The GameCube sold over 20 million units worldwide, which was less than Nintendo anticipated, and the console was officially discontinued in February 2007.

The GameCube was still seen as a success by many, though. Myself included. Predominantly because it played host to a number of fondly-remembered classic video games.

The GameCube is a capable console, and the quality of its games library almost always makes it a memorable experience. I also particularly like the GameCube‘s gamepad. It’s a perfect fit for medium-sized hands…

I still have my original GameCube (in fact, it’s the very same GameCube as pictured at the top of this article – because I took that photo), and a reasonable collection of games (all the Resident Evils; all the Tony Hawk games; all the Pikmins and Metroid Primes, and plenty more), and I still play them on a fairly regular basis.

This week, I’m going to be posting only GameCube games, in celebration of this excellent console. Two Nintendo GameCube articles per day, for seven days… So that’s a seven-day ride through some of the best GameCube games ever made! All grabbed in high resolution, thanks to the wonders of modern emulation.

As a side note: I don’t remember seeing many 2D games* available for the GameCube, although the system was obviously very good at it. The majority of the GameCube‘s games were presented at 60FPS, in real-time 3D, but at standard definition. Here, I’ve upscaled them to high definition in the emulator, which results in much more detailed screenshots than you would get on a CRT television at base resolution. Which I think results in some nice screenshots.

*=If you know any good 2D GameCube games, leave a comment below! There must be some!

Nintendo really pushed the standards of gameplay and testing high with its own first-party GameCube classics, and also kept third-party games of a high standard, too. There are very few duffers in the GameCube library…

Here’s a list of games that we featured during our recent GameCube Special (in date published on this website order):

Super Monkey Ball (1999)
Mario Power Tennis (2004)

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (2001)

Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Soulcalibur II (2003)

Doshin the Giant (2002)
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (2002)

Need For Speed: Underground (2003)
Need For Speed: Underground 2 (2004)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
Need For Speed: Carbon (2006)

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! (2003)
Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (2003)

Turok: Evolution (2002)
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (2004)

Enjoy,
The King of Grabs

PS. I want to give a special shout out to the Dolphin Emulator team, who make great software. Dolphin is so wonderful and sophisticated, and detailed, and user-friendly, that I wouldn’t have been able to get such good screenshots without it.

More: GameCube on Wikipedia